About 5 million Californians got a first glimpse at what they might pay next year under the federal healthcare law. For many, that coverage will come with a hefty price tag. Compared with what individual policies cost now, premiums are expected to rise an average of 30% for many middle-income residents who don't get their insurance through their employers. Alternatively, lower-income consumers will reap the biggest savings and are projected to save as much as 84% off their coverage thanks to federal subsidies.

I'd like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to everyone who wrote your paper to complain about the new tax law. While they may have thought of themselves as humble middle-income Americans, their higher tax bills reveal their true status--the upper class, with incomes (probably) in the top 10% of U.S. taxpayers. MARTIN MARKOVICH Sacramento

Financial woes are only worsening for middle-income Americans living in the West, according to an index calculated by Consumer Reports. Problems such as job loss and high prices have especially plagued households earning between $50,000 and $99,000 a year, which reports of difficulties jumping 12.4% last month. High-income families said they suffered a 2.4% increase in such money-related hurdles. While the so-called Trouble Tracker index declined in the Northeast and South, financial problems increased 8.4% in the North Central region and a whopping 27.9% in the West.

Clarifying a statement that quickly went viral on the Internet on Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney said he was concerned about poor Americans but was focused on the problems of the middle class in his quest for the White House. On CNN on Wednesday morning after his 14-point win in Florida Tuesday night , Romney said he was “not concerned about the very poor” because they have “a safety net there” and “if it needs repair, I'll fix it.” ( Watch video below. ) “You've got to take the whole sentence, all right?

Thanks to Robert Rosenblatt for including in his analysis ("Budget Accord Left Out the Hard Part: Medicare," July 31) a fact that many may not know: that not only senior groups but businesses are opposed to solving the Medicare crisis now rather than later. As a 70-year-old, I cannot understand the "I've got mine" attitude of some seniors, most of whom have adult children and grandchildren who will bear the brunt of the system's failure. Some of these folks are those who scream the loudest about family values.

Developer Geoff Palmer says that if city law forces him to include affordable rental units in his proposed downtown Los Angeles luxury apartment complex, the Visconti, he will not build at all ["Apartments Have Some Up in Arms," June 12]. What greedy petulance! I've seen Palmer's recent project, the Medici apartments, and now I understand why he built it as a near-impregnable fortress: Because he has no interest in helping working-class people find decent, affordable housing, he anticipates the housing crisis in L.A. will worsen and many "less fortunates" will have to be kept segregated from the people Palmer will build for, his privileged tenants.

I am writing in response to the editorial "Correction in Medicare Course" (April 25). Contrary to the editorial's report, the expected surplus from the Medicare Catastrophic surtax is due to the fact that Congress underestimated the number of middle-income retirees who will be affected by this law. Any Medicare eligible individual age 65 or older with a tax liability of only $5,400 (a taxable income of just $27,573) will be required to pay the maximum surtax of $800 in 1989.

The Board of Economists report for Oct. 9 repeatedly referred to the tax break for the rich which would be in effect if favorable long-term capital gain taxation were to return. The article neglected to point out that there was and still is the alternative minimum tax which nullifies any preferential treatment for the wealthy. A reduced long-term capital gain tax is truly a tax break for lower tax bracket taxpayers. I specialize in financial planning for moderate- to low-income people, mostly teachers.

Congratulations UCLA and The Times for making the public aware ("Poverty Gap Growing in L.A., Report Finds," Part I, June 20, "The Poor Get Poorer," editorial, June 21) of what local teachers, police, social and health professionals already know. Yes, the poor are getting poorer. There's trouble in River City. Undoubtedly, Prof. Paul Ong is sincere in saying "It's very difficult for people on the Westside like myself to understand that this is going on." However, it is naive not to realize that a large percentage of the more affluent are aware but avoid, ignore or deny the plight of the working poor, except when crime enters the picture.

The vast majority of middle-class Americans say their financial well-being has been crimped over the last 10 years by sagging home values and dreary job prospects, according to a new survey. About 85% of middle-class people say it's tougher now than a decade ago to maintain their living standards, according to the Pew Research Center report. “Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some - but by no means all - of its characteristic faith in the future,” the report states.

Politicians on both sides of the partisan divide want to simplify the federal tax code by pruning the thicket of loopholes, exemptions and credits. In fact, President Obama and his presumptive Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have both promised to seek tax simplification if elected in November. A new study by three fiscal policy experts, however, shows that if simplification is coupled with a deep cut in rates, as Romney has proposed, lower- and middle-income Americans would have to pay more in taxes just to keep the same amount of revenue flowing into the Treasury.

Clarifying a statement that quickly went viral on the Internet on Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney said he was concerned about poor Americans but was focused on the problems of the middle class in his quest for the White House. On CNN on Wednesday morning after his 14-point win in Florida Tuesday night , Romney said he was “not concerned about the very poor” because they have “a safety net there” and “if it needs repair, I'll fix it.” ( Watch video below. ) “You've got to take the whole sentence, all right?

Were it not for the financial aid that helps cover the cost of his tuition, it is unlikely that Devonte Jackson would be able to attend UC Berkeley. The political science major has two campus jobs, but his $12,000 state-paid Cal Grant is the glue that holds his education dreams together. Tuition, books, housing and other fees top $31,000 annually. But Cal Grants could become much harder to obtain for new students under restrictions proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown as part of his 2012-13 budget.

Trying to ease the burden of families squeezed by the recession and skyrocketing tuition costs, UC Berkeley announced plans Wednesday to extend financial aid to thousands of students from households earning $80,000 to $140,000 a year. With the program, which starts next fall, UC Berkeley becomes a pioneer among public universities in a national effort to make a college education more affordable for a wider swath of middle-income families. Well-funded private colleges previously have led the way. UC Berkeley officials called the move a response to reports in California and around the country that some middle-income households are being priced out of the University of California and are reluctant to take on high levels of debt.

Retail sales cooled in July amid a wave of renewed economic worries, but the nation's merchants still managed to post a decent month. Investors, however, seemed unimpressed as retail stocks fell on a dismal day for the stock market. Major chain stores reported a 4.4% rise in sales compared with the same month last year, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 25 companies. Sales were in line with Wall Street expectations and were helped by the start of back-to-school season, hot weather and big discounts.

Hollywood consists of thousands of individuals who are usually unemployed but from time-to-time find short-term work on a production, "IRS Examiners About to Zoom In on Hollywood" (Oct. 20). Annual incomes of these actors, painters, editors, Teamsters, camera operators, writers, hairdressers, carpenters, costumers, electricians, makeup artists, etc. are, at best, middle income. Unlike "employees" in most industries, these workers are truly independent and entrepreneurial. They have no company-administered health plans or retirement programs.

It was just another tragedy in family court. A young crack mother, desperate to conceal her pregnancy, had locked herself in a tenement bathroom and given birth to a three-pound boy. As she pushed, he fell to the floor and broke his skull. The mother abandoned him, like she had two previous babies. All were born addicted to crack. "Can we do anything about this woman?" asks Judge Judith Sheindlin, her voice taut with anger.

An estimated 3.5 million Californians would be eligible for federal tax credits to slash the cost of their health coverage when they begin buying policies through a new statewide insurance marketplace in 2014, a study released Tuesday found. Under the nation's healthcare overhaul, tax credits will be available to low- and middle-income people once insurers begin selling policies through state-based insurance exchanges like the one being set up in California. The federal law requires most Americans to have insurance starting in 2014.

As the University of California seeks to sharply increase student fees, its president, Mark G. Yudof, announced plans today to soften the impact with an ambitious campaign to raise $1 billion for financial aid and a policy change widening aid eligibility for more middle-income families. The 10 UC campuses have committed to raising the $1 billion in private funds for student aid over the next four years, Yudof said. That would be double the amount the system garnered for that purpose over the last five years.